Lower Manhattan

[Jeannette Latoria]

Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan (or downtown Manhattan) is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Lower Manhattan or "downtown" is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor (also known as Upper New York Bay). When referring specifically to the lower Manhattan business district and its immediate environs, the northern border is commonly designated by thoroughfares approximately a mile-and-a-half south of 14th Street and a mile north of the island's southern tip: Chambers Street from near the Hudson east to the Brooklyn Bridge entrances and overpass. Two other major arteries are also sometimes identified as the northern border of "lower Manhattan" or less often of "downtown Manhattan": Canal Street, roughly half a mile north of Chambers Street, and 23rd Street, roughly half a mile north of 14th Street.

The lower Manhattan business district forms the core of the area below Chambers Street. It includes the Financial District—often referred to as Wall Street, after its primary artery—and the site of the World Trade Center. At the island's southern tip is Battery Park; City Hall is just to the north of the Financial District. Also south of Chambers Street are the planned community of Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport historic area. The neighborhood of TriBeCa straddles Chambers on the west side; at the street's east end is the giant Manhattan Municipal Building. North of Chambers and the Brooklyn Bridge and south of Canal Street lies most of New York's oldest Chinatown neighborhood. Many court buildings and other government offices are also located in this area. The Lower East Side neighborhood straddles Canal. North of Canal and south of 14th Street are the neighborhoods of SoHo, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Nolita, and the East Village. Between 14th and 23rd streets are lower Chelsea, Union Square, the Flatiron District, Gramercy, and the large residential development Peter Cooper Village—Stuyvesant Town.

The lower Manhattan business district is the fourth largest central business district in the United States, after Midtown Manhattan, Chicago's Loop, and Washington, D.C. The area was previously the third largest CBD.[1] Lower Manhattan fell to fourth place due to the district's loss of the World Trade Center, which contributed over 16,000,000 square feet (1,500,000 m2) of office space to the area. The square footage lost in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was equivalent to the office space then in the entire city of Cincinnati. It is expected that the district will regain its third place ranking after the construction of the Freedom Tower, which is planned to yield close to the original center's square footage of rentable commercial space, and the construction of new headquarters for financial firm Goldman Sachs.

[Jeannette Latoria]

Lower Manhattan skyline as seen from the Staten Island Ferry

[Jeannette Latoria]

A row of Greenwich Village brownstones

[Jeannette Latoria]

The New York Stock Exchange

[Jeannette Latoria]

Aerial view of the tip of Manhattan, New York, United States ca. 1931. Note that the Cities Service Building (now known as the American International Building), which would become lower Manhattan's tallest building in 1932, is only partially completed.

[Jeannette Latoria]

History

The Dutch established the first European settlements in Manhattan, which were located at the lower end of the island.[2] The first fort was built at the Battery to protect New Netherland. In 1771, Bear Market was established along the Hudson shore on land donated by Trinity Church, and replaced by Washington Market in 1813.[3] Washington Market was located between Barclay and Hubert Streets, and from Greenwich to West Street.[4] The area remains one of the few parts of Manhattan where the street grid system is largely irregular. Throughout the early decades of the 1900s, the area experienced a construction boom, with major towers such as 40 Wall Street, the American International Building, Woolworth Building, and 20 Exchange Place being erected.

In the 1950s, a few new buildings were constructed in lower Manhattan, including an 11-story building at 156 William Street in 1955.[5] A 27-story office building at 20 Broad Street, a 12-story building at 80 Pine Street, a 26-story building at 123 William Street, and a few others were built in 1957.[5] By the end of the decade, lower Manhattan had become economically depressed, in comparison with midtown Manhattan, which was booming. David Rockefeller spearheaded widespread urban renewal efforts in lower Manhattan, beginning with construction One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the new headquarters for his bank. He established the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA) which drew up plans for broader revitalization of lower Manhattan, with the development of a world trade center at the heart of these plans. The original DLMA plans called for the "world trade center" to be built along the East River, between Old Slip and Fulton Street. After negotiations with New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, the Port Authority ended up deciding to build the World Trade Center on a site along the Hudson River and the West Side Highway, rather than the East River site.

[Jeannette Latoria]

Through much of its history, the area south of Chambers Street was mainly a commercial district, with a small population of residents. In 1960, there were approximately 4,000 residents living downtown.[6] Construction of Battery Park City brought in many new residents to Lower Manhattan. The Complex started construction in the 1980s from landfill from construction of the World Trade Center. Gateway Plaza, the first complex to be completed in Battery Park City, was finished in 1983. The World Financial Center was the centerpiece of the project, consisting of four luxurious highrise towers. By the turn of the century, Battery Park City was mostly completed, with the exception of some ongoing construction on West Street. Around this time, lower Manhattan reached its highest population of business tenants and full-time residents.

Since the early twentieth century, Lower Manhattan has been an important center for the arts and leisure activities. Greenwich Village was a locus of bohemian culture from the first decade of the century through the 1980s. Several of the city's leading jazz clubs are still located in Greenwich Village, which was also one of the primary bases of the American folk music revival of the 1960s. Many art galleries were located in SoHo between the 1970s and early 1990s; today, the downtown Manhattan gallery scene is centered in Chelsea. From the 1960s onward, lower Manhattan has been home to many alternative theater companies, constituting the heart of the Off-Off-Broadway community. Punk rock and its derivatives emerged in the mid-1970s largely at two venues: CBGB on the Bowery, the western edge of the East Village, and Max's Kansas City on Park Avenue South. At the same time, the area's surfeit of reappropriated industrial lofts played an integral role in the development and sustenance of the minimalist composition, free jazz, & disco/electronic dance music subcultures. To this day, the area's many nightclubs and bars — though mostly shorn of the freewheeling iconoclasm, pioneering spirit, and do-it-yourself mentality that characterized the pre-gentrification era – draw patrons from throughout the city and the surrounding region. Since the turn of the century, the Meatpacking District — once the sparsely populated province of after-hours BDSM clubs and transgendered prostitutes — has gained a reputation as New York's trendiest neighborhood.[7]

[Jeannette Latoria]

The Cooper Union at Astor Place, where Abraham Lincoln gave the Cooper Union speech (one of his most important speeches), is one of downtown's most storied buildings.

[Jeannette Latoria]

Union Square

[Jeannette Latoria]

Historic sites

The most famous landmark in lower Manhattan is now the former World Trade Center site. Before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers were major New York icons.

The area contains many old and historic building and sites, including Castle Garden, originally the fort Castle Clinton, Bowling Green, the old United States Customs House, now the National Museum of the American Indian, Federal Hall, where George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President, Fraunces Tavern, New York City Hall, the New York Stock Exchange, renovated original mercantile buildings of the South Street Seaport (and a modern tourist building), the Brooklyn Bridge, South Ferry, embarkation point for the Staten Island Ferry and ferries to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and Trinity Church. Lower Manhattan is home to some of New York City's most spectacular skyscrapers, including the Woolworth Building, 40 Wall Street (also known as the Trump Building), the Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway, and the American International Building.

[Jeannette Latoria]

Staten Island Ferry terminal at South Ferry

[Jeannette Latoria]

In fiction

In terms of atmosphere, Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil has said that, figuratively, "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November."[8]

[Jeannette Latoria]

Lower Manhattan skyline at night (2007)

[Jeannette Latoria]

Lower Manhattan skyline at as seen from Ellis Island, 2007

[Jeannette Latoria]

Recovery and future
 
Lower Manhattan skyline at as seen from Ellis Island, 2007After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, lower Manhattan lost much of its economy and office space. While the area's economy has rebounded significantly, as of February 2008, the enormous site once occupied by the World Trade Center site remains undeveloped. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation plans to rebuild downtown Manhattan, by adding new streets, buildings, and office space.